The European Commission has recently initiated a comprehensive Green Deal with the objective of enhancing the environmental sustainability of agriculture, promoting nature inclusivity, and...Show moreThe European Commission has recently initiated a comprehensive Green Deal with the objective of enhancing the environmental sustainability of agriculture, promoting nature inclusivity, and facilitating the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. However, much controversy has been surrounding the formulation of its Farm to Fork (F2) Strategy policy objectives due to incompatible perspectives regarding the envisioned future sustainable food system between the involved actors and the European Commission. This, therefore, raises the question of what is the role of expert knowledge in the realm of EU policymaking? Moreover, what factors influence the Commission’s utilisation of expert knowledge? The utilisation of expert knowledge has been a topic of academic debate in the social sciences. The scholarly discourse pertaining to the role of expert knowledge in the realm of public policymaking processes, and in particular in the EU context, is abundant in theoretical frameworks; however, it also lacks consistency in defining and explaining the role of expert knowledge in public policymaking. This study aims to address the gap in existing literature by improving the understanding of knowledge utilisation and its features in the context of a new EU policy case. The research question seeks to determine the Commission’s utilisation of expert knowledge in the preparation of the Farm to Fork Strategy and explain whether the combination of internal and external dynamics account for the anticipated type of knowledge utilisation. The study focuses on a single case to achieve the theoretical objectives of demonstrating a causal relationship and examining whether the causal process occurred as anticipated. The study focuses on the timeframe from 2016 to 2021, coinciding with the first mandate of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Waste (FLW) and its efforts towards food waste policies, which were subsequently integrated into the F2F Strategy.Show less
This master thesis delves into the impact of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis on the Dutch strategic culture using Tamir Libel's fourth-generation of strategic culture framework. The study focuses on the...Show moreThis master thesis delves into the impact of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis on the Dutch strategic culture using Tamir Libel's fourth-generation of strategic culture framework. The study focuses on the role of two subcultures, Atlanticism and Europeanism, in shaping the Dutch strategic culture and how they affected the country's response to the crisis. The research methodology employed in this study is document analysis, which involves analyzing official documents, policy statements, and public discourse related to the crisis to better understand the evolution of Dutch strategic culture and its implications for foreign policy decision-making. The analysis findings suggest that the 2014 Ukrainian crisis significantly impacted the Dutch strategic culture, leading to a shift towards a more Europeanist approach. The crisis has highlighted the need for increased cooperation and solidarity within Europe, strengthening the Europeanist subculture within the Dutch strategic culture. This shift towards a more Europeanist approach has important implications for the country's foreign policy decision-making, emphasising the importance of a collective European response to future crises. In conclusion, this thesis highlights the role of subcultures within the Dutch strategic culture and their impact on foreign policy decision-making during a crisis. It provides valuable insights into the evolution of the Dutch strategic culture and how the 2014 Ukrainian crisis has shaped it. The study's findings suggest that the crisis has led to a more Europeanist approach within the Dutch strategic culture, which has important implications for the country's future foreign policy decisions.Show less
On average, expert influence is expected to have a marginal grip on policy-making processes in Italy. Plausibly, unless a set of enabling factors overturns the status quo, the outcome is not...Show moreOn average, expert influence is expected to have a marginal grip on policy-making processes in Italy. Plausibly, unless a set of enabling factors overturns the status quo, the outcome is not anticipated to meaningfully deviate from expectations. Previous research has shown the relevance of contextual characteristics for expert influence in Westminster, Nordic and EU policy advisory systems. However, studies focusing on Napoleonic systems such as Italy are few. The thesis addresses this knowledge gap by testing theory-driven expectations generated from academic studies in the abovementioned contexts. To study the conditions promoting expert influence in the Italian policymaking arena, this thesis adopted a within-case analysis research design. The study case selected is the 2022 policy advisory process derived from the Civil Service Department and Public Administration Ministry commissioning advisory guidelines from the Scuola Nazionale dell'Amministrazione. The task entailed redesigning the competence-oriented selection guidelines for Italian public managers. The entrusted public entity recruited and guided a board of experts. The overarching methodology, deployed through text reuse analysis, documentation analysis and interviews of board members, attempts to trace the advisory process from its inception to the final approval of the guidelines. Overall, the evidence points to the contextual characteristics profoundly shaping the policy advisory process that led to the creation of the selection guidelines. To begin with, the Scuola Nazionale dell'Amministrazione strong credibility and close proximity to the government acted as enabling forces for the exertion of expert influence. Moving to policy domain features, the process tracing approach ascertained that the high level of technical complexity similarly enabled the experts to enter the drafting of the guidelines and profoundly shape its contents. On the other hand, the mixed evidence on levels of policy uncertainty and pressure on decision-makers could not confirm nor refute the expected directionality of the effects. Finally, the evidence on the remaining two policy advisory system institutional dimensions, formalisation and codification, is as follows. On one hand, the research design confirmed the enabling role of high formalisation. On the other hand, the mixed evidence on the levels of codification could not confirm nor refute the expected directionality of the effects. The strengths and the limitations of the mixed methodology selected were starkly evident plausibly due to the within-case analysis it was applied to. The wide array of evidence collected allowed us to effectively probe part of the well-established theoretical expectations. The inability to definitely rule on the directionality of the other expected effects could hint at the limits of other well-established explanations grounded in Westminster and EU PAS systems in effectively explaining PAS processes in Napoleonic countries such as Italy.Show less
The central research question addressed in this study is: What are the key determinants of European defense spending, defense investment, and defense investment collaboration from 2005-2021? Using...Show moreThe central research question addressed in this study is: What are the key determinants of European defense spending, defense investment, and defense investment collaboration from 2005-2021? Using data from SIPRI and the European Defense Agency (EDA), this paper performs a series of analyses in the form of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) Regressions, Heckman Two-Step Analyses, and a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to understand the determinants of the three dependent variables mentioned above. This is the first research to address defense investment and defense investment collaboration as separate dependent variables from defense spending. The findings support the fact that the determinants of defense investment and defense investment collaboration do not exactly mimic those of defense spending, and therefore these should be treated as separate dependent variables going forward. Specifically, this research finds that the type of external threats faced by a country, whether it is an EU15 member, and the risk of free riding all play different roles in defense spending, investment, and collaboration, respectively. A heightened understanding of the determinants of defense spending, defense investment, and defense investment collaboration as different entities will allow EU leadership to make more effective policy decisions in order to enhance investment levels among member states. This is especially important given the current tense geopolitical environment and the depletion of military equipment stockpiles following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Show less
This thesis takes a comparative approach to understanding the impact of TAN populist executives on the asylum systems of Hungary and Italy following the 2015/16 migration crisis. The interlinking...Show moreThis thesis takes a comparative approach to understanding the impact of TAN populist executives on the asylum systems of Hungary and Italy following the 2015/16 migration crisis. The interlinking concepts of TAN populism, autocratization, and their relationship with judicial control and the asylum seeker are first expanded upon in the Literature Review. Then, the Theoretical Framework chapter delves into the applicability of the path dependence approach for understanding the links between these concepts and hypothesises that the degree to which a TAN populist executive can inflict Asylum System Assault (ASA) depends on its ability to reshape judicial control. This hypothesis is tested using a research design based on MSSD-I which is discussed in the Methodological Approach chapter. The comparative part of the thesis begins with a chapter on the case study of Hungary. In this case we see how the drafting of a new constitution by the Fidesz party in 2010 severely weakened judicial independence, allowing for a path dependent trajectory of further autocratization and, following the migration crisis, of ASA. In turn, this led to the structural death of asylum in the country by 2020. Meanwhile, the next chapter on the Italian case shows how an independent judiciary can act as a lifebuoy for migrant rights by stopping the successful implementation of key TAN populist executive ASA policies. This being the case both during the Conte I government, and in the current Meloni-led government.Show less
During an ongoing housing crisis in Amsterdam one potential determinant of the increase of housing prices is further analysed: Airbnb activity. Airbnb potentially increases housing prices by...Show moreDuring an ongoing housing crisis in Amsterdam one potential determinant of the increase of housing prices is further analysed: Airbnb activity. Airbnb potentially increases housing prices by generating extra demand for housing to rent to tourists, and decreasing housing supply for residents because these houses are used to hosts travellers. Listing on Airbnb is interesting as potential profits are high. With less housing supply and more demand for housing, housing prices increase. Furthermore, Airbnb increases disposable income by increasing tourism, leading to more income available to spend on housing, Lastly, Airbnb hosts sometimes renovate houses, increasing the value of houses further. In the city centre these effects are heightened due to a lower increase of housing supply and extra demand for Airbnb listings. To research this phenomenon the central question in this paper is: To what extend did Airbnb increase housing prices in Amsterdam in the time period of 2015-2019? Most papers researching the effects of Airbnb on the housing market have a bigger scope as Europe or the United States. This paper zooms in on one particular city: Amsterdam, in order to further estimate economic effects of Airbnb listings in one city. This paper can help policy makers identify the potential increase of housing prices through Airbnb and construct policy dampening the negative effects of Airbnb, while still keeping most of the benefits. This thesis uses multiple fixed effects regression models to estimate the effect of Airbnb on the housing market. Amsterdam is divided over 22 GGW-areas which are used as research subject. The dependent variable in this thesis is WOZ-value, and the independent variable is the number of Airbnb listings. Housing supply, number of households, unemployment rate, and disposable income are added as control variables. As robustness checks social housing and maintenance level of houses are added. These variables have a low number of observations, thus could not be included in the primary models. To estimate the effect of Airbnb listings on the city centre of Amsterdam an interaction effect is added. This thesis estimates that on average Airbnb activity increased the housing prices in Amsterdam between 2015-2019 with 3.4% and 13.9% in the city centre, identifying a potential increase of Airbnb listings on housing prices in Amsterdam. To lessen this effect building more houses, only allow a limited number of listings and increased enforcements are recommended. This thesis is mostly limited by a low amount of data and having limited insight in the mechanisms underlaying the effect of Airbnb on housing prices.Show less
The COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on Dutch public organizations, and on society as a whole. This study aims to explore the leadership preferences among public servants during times of...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on Dutch public organizations, and on society as a whole. This study aims to explore the leadership preferences among public servants during times of crisis, and to make concrete recommendations for further research into the underdeveloped knowledge on public leadership preferences in times of crisis. To do so, semistructured interviews were conducted with employees from the municipalities of The Hague and Gouda, during which they were asked to report their needs in terms of three leadership styles: laissez-faire, transactional and transformational. The study found that transformational leadership was preferred during the pandemic and encourages fellow researchers to verify this using quantitative means. Further recommendations include the reexamination of the usefulness of laissez-faire leadership and the usage of different leadership frameworks to touch upon other behaviors.Show less
This thesis sets out to uncover the relationship between different forms of workplace ambiguity and the networking behaviour of managers in public organisations. Public leaders are frequently made...Show moreThis thesis sets out to uncover the relationship between different forms of workplace ambiguity and the networking behaviour of managers in public organisations. Public leaders are frequently made to handle numerous obstacles as part of their work, which can often include the emergence of ambiguity in their objectives, responsibilities or policies. Goal and role ambiguity have been known to have a significant effect on the behaviour of public workers, often increasing feelings of dissatisfaction as well as decreasing productivity. For this reason, academics have strived to closely study the influence of workplace ambiguity on the various roles that a manager performs on a day to day basis. This thesis aimed to make a contribution to this endeavour, by focusing on the networking behaviour of public managers and hypothesising whether different forms of ambiguity are positively or negatively related to its prevalence. To accomplish this task, this thesis has drawn on academic literature on leadership behaviour, managerial networking, goal ambiguity, role ambiguity, and public organisations. Furthermore, this thesis used a quantitative approach for its research, utilising a large-N dataset collected by Leiden University and Erasmus University Rotterdam via an online survey. This data was used to test the hypotheses by conducting three regression analyses in SPSS. The results from these analyses suggested that within the social support teams in the Netherlands, the presence of goal ambiguity and role ambiguity are negatively related to the networking behaviour of team leaders.Show less
Street-level bureaucrats are characterized by severe workloads, conflicting demands, and limitations in resources such as time and money. Additionally, street-level bureaucrats have discretionary...Show moreStreet-level bureaucrats are characterized by severe workloads, conflicting demands, and limitations in resources such as time and money. Additionally, street-level bureaucrats have discretionary space that possibly allows for poor interpretation and judgement of a certain situation, due to stereotype-use. This thesis investigates how social class stereotypes are used in the interpretation of Dutch psychologists of depressive disorder symptoms during a client’s first intake. This is investigated through a qualitative vignette study. The analysis shows that social class stereotypes are activated differently per social class. Psychologists use social class stereotypes to explain the client’s situation when it regarded a client from a high social class. Social class stereotypes are used as a determinant for a client’s treatment when it regarded a client from a low social class. These findings support previous research on the workings of social class stereotypes, as well as the theoretical understanding of stereotypes in general.Show less
The growth of the sharing economy represents an introduction of social commerce into the digital market. In light of this, one can expect the behavioral implications of engaging in the sharing...Show moreThe growth of the sharing economy represents an introduction of social commerce into the digital market. In light of this, one can expect the behavioral implications of engaging in the sharing economy to differ from that of other digital platforms. Previous literature has found that digital platforms prime the self-interested preference of their consumers, but the unique characteristics of the sharing economy suggest that it has the potential, through its promotion of more personal interaction, to instead prime social preferences. Using the goal-framing theory, this paper aimed to uncover whether the presence of personal social interaction strengthens preferences for sustainability and preferences for purchasing from individuals, and whether the presence of egocentric cues affects this relationship. The findings indicated no significant correlations except for in one key area, being that the presence of personal social interaction strengthens preferences for sustainability, subject to moderating effects. In other words, the sharing economy, through its social element, has the potential to foster social preferences.Show less
Governments are increasingly relying on automated systems to keep citizen administrations, determine welfare eligibility. The growing use of algorithms in decision-making has sparked worries about...Show moreGovernments are increasingly relying on automated systems to keep citizen administrations, determine welfare eligibility. The growing use of algorithms in decision-making has sparked worries about how these systems may affect individuals' faith in public institutions. It is suggested that algrotihmic transparency and accountability are core elements in shaping this relationship. This study sought to uncover these effects on citizen trust. Through a linear regression analysis, this study examined the influence of comprehensibility, explainability and enforcement and responsiveness on citizen trust. The results suggested significant direct effects of comprehensibility and responsiveness. Furthermore, it was uncovered that ‘trust in government’ fully mediates the relationship between explainability and responsiveness with trust in government. The findings of this study have implications on how governments might design and implement algorithmic decision making systems and retain public support.Show less
